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Journalism of Courage
A SOS call at 4am on Tuesday morning shook everyone in the medical services team of the World Para Athletics Championships as Poland’s paralympic gold medallist Roza Kozakowska had collapsed in her room, suffering from severe dehydration, vomiting, and heat stroke.
“When our doctors reached her, she was in a critical state lying unconscious, unable to respond,” Brigadier Dr. Bibhu Nayak, Head of medical services, recalled. She was immediately rushed to Safdarjung Hospital, where doctors administered fluids and antibiotics.
However, despite the horrible circumstances, Roza insisted on getting discharged from the hospital and wanted to compete. “At 10 in the morning, I was still on a hospital bed, my energy was zero. I thought the competition was impossible,” said Roza. However, within another seven hours, she decided to take the field. “I came here to compete, not just to be present,” Roza said.
Cut to 5:00 PM for the F32 Club Throw competition, Roza was first to throw and in her second throw, she launched the club to 29.30 metres to make the new championship record and become the World Champion. “I owe this medal to the doctors of Athlete Medical Centre, especially Dr. Irfan at the JLN Stadium, to my team, and to the belief that I must never give up,” Roza said after her medal ceremony today.
Born in Zduńska Wola in 1989, she endured chemotherapy as a child for a genetic blood disorder, battled Lyme disease that left her quadriplegic, and survived a troubled childhood. From excelling in long jump at the 2019 World Championships to capturing gold and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Roza has been one of the most inspiring athletes in the para athletics landscape.
On Wednesday, India drew another blank day as Akira Nandan Banothu finished ninth in the men’s 400m T38 race. He clocked 50.55.
Elsewhere, World records tumbled as Luka Ekler gave herself an early birthday present by winning the women’s Long Jump T38 gold medal with a World Record. The Hungarian, who will celebrate her 27th birthday later this month, leapt 5.91m. Jaydin Blackwell (USA, men’s 400m T38) and Oleksandr Yarovyi (Neutral Para Athlete, men’s Shot Put F20) were the other athletes who raised the number of World Records set in five days of competition in New Delhi to 18.
Ekler, a two-time Paralympic Games Long Jump champion who had pegged the World Record at 5.82m three years ago in Paris was up against Angie Nicoll Mejia Morales and Karen Tatiana Palomque Moreno who had scored a 1-2 for Colombia in the 100m on Monday. She rewrote her own World Record twice in the span of the competition, leaping 5.86m on her second jump and improving to 5.91n on the fifth attempt. Interestingly, each of her three valid jumps was enough to fetch her the sixth World Championships gold medal, including three in Long Jump.
Jaydin Blackwell, 21, scripted a World Record time of 48.00 seconds in the men’s 400m T38 final. Having won the 100m T38 with a Championships Record on Sunday, he brooked no challenge in cruising home to a handsome victory that saw him repeat his two-gold feat from Kobe 2024 World Championships and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Oleksandr Yarovyi led a Ukraine 1-2 finish along with Maksym Koval in the men’s Shot Put F20 final, the former nailing a World Record of 17.73m on his third attempt.
Brazil ended the day on top of the table with 8 gold, 15 silver and 7 bronze while China remained in second place with 7 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze. India remained in fourth with 4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze behind Poland’s 6-1-5 haul.
